Hospital at-Home Trend Builds as Optum, LHC Join Humana and Others as Care Shifts

With the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) estimating an average three-day hospital stay at $30,000 and COVID-19 fears still very much a factor for many people regarding hospitalization, the shift to in-home health is gathering serious momentum.

On Tuesday (March 29) UnitedHealthcare’s Optum unit announced it is acquiring home health provider LHC Group in a deal valued at $5.4 billion.

“LHC Group’s sophisticated care coordination capabilities and its warm, human touch is so important for home care, and will greatly enhance the reach of Optum’s value-based capabilities along the full continuum of care,” Optum Health CEO Dr. Wyatt Decker said in a press release.

Louisiana-based LHC Group specializes in several areas including post-acute care, palliative and home hospice services, and partners with some 350 hospitals to coordinate a patient’s move from a hospital setting or receive nursing care and a range of treatments at home.

Optum currently offers Optum HouseCalls in-home health evaluations, shown to decrease hospital admissions by 14% and to reduce office visits between 2% and 6%, per a fact sheet.

A handful of recent similar deals gives an idea about how healthcare organizations see treatment options in a post-pandemic world.

See also: Healthcare Payments Get Patient-Centered Overhaul in 2022

Transparency and Options Matter

Price transparency and the availability of new payment options are vital components for the evolution of at-home care, as these are deciding factors for more patients today.

The Payment Cure: How Improving Billing Experiences Impacts Patient Loyalty, a PYMNTS report with research sponsored by CareCredit, found that 21% of consumers spent more on out-of-pocket healthcare expenses during the past year than they did two years ago.

“The majority of patients stated that cost transparency matters to their assessment of their healthcare experiences,” the study states, adding that 65% of respondents said “being made aware of the potential cost of treatment before an appointment creates an overall positive experience. However, just 30% of patients are able to access a cost estimate beforehand.”

Get the study: The Payment Cure: How Improving Billing Experiences Impacts Patient Loyalty

For the at-home care trend to take root and expand, issues around pre-care estimates and payment options are being worked out double-quick by a parade of new entrants.

A Healthy Trend Widens

In August 2021, Humana completed its acquisition of Kindred at Home, the nation’s largest home health and hospice provider, bolstering its at-home services for the March 1 launch of CenterWell Home Health, a cornerstone of its payer-agnostic healthcare offering.

See also: Hospital-at-Home Concepts Gaining Traction as COVID Again Overloads Hospitals and Clinics

In a press release, Humana said, “CenterWell strives to seamlessly incorporate patient data, coordinate care and handoffs, and communicate directly with patients as well as their providers, so living environments and social support networks are taken into account. Being payer-agnostic, CenterWell accepts members and patients of a variety of Medicare Advantage, traditional Medicare, Medicaid and commercial plans, not just those offered by Humana.”

In January, hospital-at-home platform Medically Home raised $110 million to bring more care into patients’ homes to take pressure off hospitals and clinics and make things more comfortable and convenient for patients themselves.

How the shift to at-home healthcare at scale will impact labyrinthine medical billing and care affordability is to be determined, as insurance companies and CMS figure out how hospital services delivered in home settings will be priced and paid for.

Related: Generation HealthTech: How Digital Tools Amplify Millennial Patient Loyalty